


Bleeding Heart

by CloudXMK



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Feelings, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Romance, Slow Burn, Sort of? - Freeform, This is not gonna end well folks, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22128508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudXMK/pseuds/CloudXMK
Summary: It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Not like this.
Relationships: Die-Hardman/Clifford Unger
Kudos: 17





	Bleeding Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! I'm finally back from my travels. But unfortunately, I've fallen sick (and on the day I was leaving lol but its better than falling sick in the middle of my trip). 
> 
> I wrote this up and posted it on Tumblr earlier during my trip but now I have the chance to upload it here. 
> 
> I do hope you guys would enjoy this and brace yourselves. It's gonna hurt!

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. John knew he was in big trouble the moment he ended up hiding under cover from the heavy gunfire aimed right at him. He shook his head wondering how he let his arrogance get to his head. He was supposed to be better than this, better than a reckless idiot who runs straight into enemy territory. His Captain taught him better than that.

And yet, he managed to throw every single training drilled into his head out the window making him end up in this terrible situation.

Once the gunfire quelled down, he peeked slightly around the corner of the wrecked house he was hiding behind only for a bullet to end up embedded in the brick wall a few inches away from his head and he quickly scrambled back behind the house once again to avoid getting shot. “Goddamnit.” He curses under his breath. This was bad. He couldn’t get out lest he get shot up but he would end up killed if he stayed around here.

Essentially he was trapped.

Suddenly, his radio crackled to life and he heard the familiar voice of his Captain yelling out to him. “John! John, tell me of your position now!”

John quickly grabbed his radio and answered back. “I’m hiding behind a house just three blocks away from the town square! Right in front of a fountain!”

“Hold your position there! I’m getting you out of there!”

John balked. Get him out of this mess? That would be impossible! “What? Captain, you’ll get killed! Just go and get the others out of here!”

“I'm not leaving any one of my team behind to be killed! Stay put until I get there!” The radio then went dead and John just knew. His Captain was coming to get him. And he felt a glimmer of hope as well as a sense of dread. Why did he feel things were about to go south?

He bunkered down, checking his ammunition. He only had a couple of rounds, just enough to help make his escape when the Captain came to get him but not much more than that. It felt like forever when a hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he whirled ready to slam the butt of his rifle into whomever grabbed him but stopped just short when he saw it was just the Captain.

“Easy, John!”

“Captain!” John exclaimed, stunned to see the man before him. He really did it. He actually came back when he should have just left and not risk his life for him.

“I told you, I’m getting you out of here, John.” Cliff said, noting the surprised look on the soldier’s face. “I made a promise to all of you that I will never abandon you even when things go south, remember?”

“You shouldn’t! You could have gotten killed on the way here! You shouldn’t be risking your life just for me!”

Cliff shook his head. “You’re one of us and I never leave anyone behind. Not now, not ever.”

John felt his heart skip a beat at the Captain’s words. If he knew one thing about his Captain is that Cliff never broke his promises. Heart fluttering, he gulps.

God, this is probably why he fell for the man hard back a couple of months ago then even if he swore he would never tell the Captain of his true feelings.

“Come on. Let’s get going.”

“But where? There’s too many of them!”

“I managed to sneak in behind their lines through this alley. It’ll lead us to the open desert and from there our getaway vehicle.”

John nods, trusting the man. “Lead the way Captain.”

Cliff nods and beckons John to follow him. John then promptly followed the man’s lead, ducking low and sneaking out, gripping his gun close to his chest and remaining alert for any signs of enemy forces. It seemed like everything was going to go smoothly and that they would end up escaping from this nightmare.

That was until the last second when neither men didn’t see the enemy coming around the corner then.

The crackle of the gun echoed in John’s ears too late and he was suddenly barreled over by the Captain to the ground. He heard the Captain grunt as he lands on top of him and John cried out in surprise and pain. Seeing the man aiming his gun at them, John quickly fired at the man taking him down then.

Scrambling out from under the older man, John quickly rolled Cliff onto his back and checked the man for any injuries. “Captain! Captain Unger, are you al-?” John’s eyes widened when he saw the blood rapidly pooling underneath his Captain’s shirt and saw the red liquid on his trembling palm when he pulled his hand back.

Clamping his hand back again over the wound, John quickly pulls the older man up, apologizing when he heard the man grunt in pain. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He cries out, slinging Cliff’s arm over his shoulders as he holds him up with an arm around the older man's waist and started for their getaway vehicle as fast as he could.

Gently putting his Captain into the truck, John runs over to the driver’s seat and starts it, pressing on the gas as he drove them out of there. Radioing for back-up, he gives them their location urging they hurry up. Once he had driven quite far enough, he stops the vehicle and starts to look after his Captain whom was slumped in the front seat looking as pale as a ghost.

Clamping his hands over the man’s wound, John pleads to the Captain to hold on, trying to stop the bleeding but the red liquid kept on seeping through his fingers in red rivulets.

“Hold on, Captain Unger! Back-up is on the way!”

Cliff coughs out blood, merely smiling through the pain. “I’ll be fine John.”

“God, this is what I was worried that would happen! Why didn't you just leave me?”

“Like I… said… I… never… leave my… men… behind.” Cliff wheezes out, getting paler and weaker as he continued to lose blood.

“Captain. Captain hold on!”

“You’re… going… to… go… home… John.” Cliff manages to mutter out as his eyes shuttered close.

“Captain?” John quickly checks the man’s pulse, his heart dropping to the ground when he barely felt it.

“CAPTAIN!”

* * *

Sitting by the bed of the man laying prone and still, John stared down at his feet, elbows on his trembling knees and his hands clasped tight together as he prayed to a God he didn’t believe in, hoping that his Captain would pull through.

It had been too close. Way too close.

When the helicopter had come to pick them up from that hellzone, the Captain’s heart had stopped beating. He had to watch as the medic team worked on Cliff as they tried to bring him back from the dead.

For a moment, he thought this was it. He was going to watch his Captain and the man he fell for die before his very eyes and it would be his fault.

They had managed to bring him back then just as he was about to lose all hope. Only for them to lose him another two more times. One time on the flight back to base and the other in surgery.

The surgeon had told him that the bullet had nicked his heart. Another inch to the left and he would be done for. Talk about miracles.

Still, this wouldn’t have happened if he had listened to his Captain and not run in thinking he was some sort of an action hero.

The slow beeps coming from the heart monitor told him that the Captain was fine and alive but an irrational part of him feared that it would stop at any moment. What if it did? That only made him wrap his arms around himself trying to shove that dark thought down as he didn't want to entertain that scenario. Just then, he heard the sheets rustle and he looks up, reaching a hand forward and gripping the Captain’s hand as he watched Cliff slowly wake up from his slumber.

“Hrm… John?”

“Its good to see you awake Captain. I… I’m glad you’re back.” John said, guilt still eating at his soul.

Taking in a deep breath, John exhales shakily. “You died, Captain. Three times to be exact.”

“John-.”

“You. Died. Captain. At this point, don’t you think its better to just leave me out there instead of dying because of my idiocy? Or why don’t you just kick me out? It would be better for everyone including you!” John said, ripping his gaze away from the Captain’s face back to his feet as he pulls back letting his hand go from the Captain’s hand, too ashamed to look at the the older man in the face.

“You took a bullet for me in the heart! Another inch to the left and they wouldn't have been able to revive you!”

“John-.”

“Why do you still keep me around, Captain!?” John demanded, his eyes burning with the onset of tears as his throat tightened with guilt. 

This was it. This was the moment his Captain would see sense and kick him out.

Instead, he was shocked when he felt the Captain’s hand on his head.

“John, I told you, you are one of my men. One whom I personally trained. You were caught out in an ambush. You wouldn’t have known.”

“But I shouldn’t have run ahead!”

“John. What you consider is idiocy, I say its your judgment and I trust you to use your judgment on the battlefield. You thought it was all clear so you went ahead. Nobody not even I knew there was an ambush in waiting until it was too late.”

“I trust you John. And I am willing to take a bullet for you no matter what.”

John raised his head unable to believe what he had just heard. “Y-You must be mistaken.”

“Its no mistake.” Cliff said, shooting the younger man then his gentle smile that always left John’s heart fluttering.

“A bullet to the heart is nothing if it meant that you would live.”

This time John couldn’t stop the tears escaping and he wept, not realizing that Cliff had pulled him into a hug as he continued to cry into the older man’s shoulder. He wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t. Yet, hearing what is the closest thing to a confession of the older man’s feelings for him made him want to soar. He would continue to improve in his skills and be the best and most loyal soldier that the Captain would ever see.

He would not fail Captain Unger, not the man he loved. This he swore.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Cradling the gun in his hands, John couldn’t erase the image of his former Captain dead on the floor, two bullet holes through the older man’s chest over where his heart was.

The same spot where he took the bullet meant for him all those years ago except this time it was him that shot those bullets into the man’s heart, not any enemy force.

He failed.

He was a joke of a soldier. A traitor. Loyalty. Hah! Unlike Cliff, it shows that he was the one capable of breaking promises. He couldn’t save his former Captain and the man he still loved all these years because of his decision to follow President Strand. Even worse, the Captain’s son dead because of him. Only thanks to Amelie did the Captain’s son come back to life. A second chance for the child. Yet, it shouldn’t have happened. This shouldn’t have happened at all.

But he made his bed and now he had to lie in it. Tears rolled down John’s face and his frame started to tremble as he sobbed his heart out, letting the guilt, regret, grief and self-hatred swirl freely in his heart.

He truly was the cause of his Captain’s bleeding heart.

He was right all those years ago.

He wasn’t worth it.


End file.
